Towards the Last Spike

Towards the Last Spike PDF Author: E. J. Pratt
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 71

Get Book Here

Book Description
Towards the Last Spike was written in 1952 by Canadian poet E. J. Pratt. It is a long narrative poem in blank verse about the construction of the first transcontinental railroad line in Canada, that of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), from 1871 through 1885. Excerpt: "It was the same world then as now—the same, Except for little differences of speed And power, and means to treat myopia To show an axe-blade infinitely sharp Splitting things infinitely small, or else Provide the telescopic sight to roam Through curved dominions never found in fables. The same, but for new particles of speech..."

Towards the Last Spike

Towards the Last Spike PDF Author: E. J. Pratt
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 71

Get Book Here

Book Description
Towards the Last Spike was written in 1952 by Canadian poet E. J. Pratt. It is a long narrative poem in blank verse about the construction of the first transcontinental railroad line in Canada, that of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), from 1871 through 1885. Excerpt: "It was the same world then as now—the same, Except for little differences of speed And power, and means to treat myopia To show an axe-blade infinitely sharp Splitting things infinitely small, or else Provide the telescopic sight to roam Through curved dominions never found in fables. The same, but for new particles of speech..."

The Last Spike

The Last Spike PDF Author: Pierre Berton
Publisher: Anchor Canada
ISBN: 038567354X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 498

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the four years between 1881 and 1885, Canada was forged into one nation by the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Last Spike reconstructs the incredible story of how some 2,000 miles of steel crossed the continent in just five years — exactly half the time stipulated in the contract. Pierre Berton recreates the adventures that were part of this vast undertaking: the railway on the brink of bankruptcy, with one hour between it and ruin; the extraordinary land boom of Winnipeg in 1881–1882; and the epic tale of how William Van Horne rushed 3,000 soldiers over a half-finished railway to quell the Riel Rebellion. Dominating the whole saga are the men who made it all possible — a host of astonishing characters: Van Horne, the powerhouse behind the vision of a transcontinental railroad; Rogers, the eccentric surveyor; Onderdonk, the cool New Yorker; Stephen, the most emotional of businessmen; Father Lacombe, the black-robed voyageur; Sam Steele, of the North West Mounted Police; Gabriel Dumont, the Prince of the Prairies; more than 7,000 Chinese workers, toiling and dying in the canyons of the Fraser Valley; and many more — land sharks, construction geniuses, politicians, and entrepreneurs — all of whom played a role in the founding of the new Canada west of Ontario.

The Boy in the Picture

The Boy in the Picture PDF Author: Ray Argyle
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1554887879
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
Recounts the life of Edward Mallandaine, a teenaged railroad worker who appears in the photograph depicting the ceremonial laying of the last spike to mark the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Craigellachie, British Columbia, in 1885.

The Boundless

The Boundless PDF Author: Kenneth Oppel
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 144247288X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
A humorously titled small book whose 360 degree spiral binding makes its contents impossible to view.

Northrop Frye on Canada

Northrop Frye on Canada PDF Author: Northrop Frye
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 9780802037107
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 810

Get Book Here

Book Description
Brings together all of the writings of Northrop Frye, both published and unpublished, on the subject of Canadian literature and culture, from his early book reviews of the 1930s and 1940s through his cultural commentaries of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Complete Poems

Complete Poems PDF Author: Edwin John Pratt
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 0802057756
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 984

Get Book Here

Book Description
The volume offers a full sampling of Pratt's poems chosen both for their representativeness and for their intrinsic value.

Why We Act Like Canadians

Why We Act Like Canadians PDF Author: Pierre Berton
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 1551995344
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this challenging book, written as a series of open letters to an American friend, Pierre Berton reaches into his profound knowledge of the country’s history and geography to dissect, praise, explain and occasionally criticize the national character. He does so, not with abstract opinions but with apt and colourful examples taken from the past and the present: Sam Steele’s gold rush censorship of the Turkish Whirlwind Danseuse; Ontario’s grudging acceptance of beer in three Toronto ballparks; New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade; Lorne Greene’s rueful return to Toronto; William Van Horne’s tirade against winter carnivals; the role of Kentucky in the War of 1812; W.A.C. Bennett’s surprising takeover of the B.C. Electric Company on the day of its president’s funeral. All these apparently disconnected incidents are woven into a carefully thought-out dissection of the national character, a distillation of more than thirty years of Berton research.

"The Last Spike,"

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Get Book Here

Book Description


Empire Express

Empire Express PDF Author: David Haward Bain
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101658045
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1432

Get Book Here

Book Description
After the Civil War, the building of the transcontinental railroad was the nineteenth century's most transformative event. Beginning in 1842 with a visionary's dream to span the continent with twin bands of iron, Empire Express captures three dramatic decades in which the United States effectively doubled in size, fought three wars, and began to discover a new national identity. From self--made entrepreneurs such as the Union Pacific's Thomas Durant and era--defining figures such as President Lincoln to the thousands of laborers whose backbreaking work made the railroad possible, this extraordinary narrative summons an astonishing array of voices to give new dimension not only to this epic endeavor but also to the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of an unforgettable period in American history.

A History of Canadian Literature

A History of Canadian Literature PDF Author: William H. New
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 9780773525979
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 496

Get Book Here

Book Description
"New offers an unconventionally structured overview of Canadian literature, from Native American mythologies to contemporary texts." Publishers Weekly A History of Canadian Literature looks at the work of writers and the social and cultural contexts that helped shape their preoccupations and direct their choice of literary form. W.H. New explains how – from early records of oral tales to the writing strategies of the early twenty-first century – writer, reader, literature, and society are interrelated. New discusses both Aboriginal and European mythologies, looking at pre-Contact narratives and also at the way Contact experience altered hierarchies of literary value. He then considers representations of the "real," whether in documentary, fantasy, or satire; historical romance and the social construction of Nature and State; and ironic subversions of power, the politics of cultural form, and the relevance of the media to a representation of community standard and individual voice. New suggests some ways in which writers of the later twentieth century codified such issues as history, gender, ethnicity, and literary technique itself. In this second edition, he adds a lengthy chapter that considers how writers at the turn of the twenty-first century have reimagined their society and their roles within it, and an expanded chronology and bibliography. Some of these writers have spoken from and about various social margins (dealing with issues of race, status, ethnicity, and sexuality), some have sought emotional understanding through strategies of history and memory, some have addressed environmental concerns, and some have reconstructed the world by writing across genres and across different media. All genres are represented, with examples chosen primarily, but not exclusively, from anglophone and francophone texts. A chronology, plates, and a series of tables supplement the commentary.